A new episode in the Star Wars saga is on the horizon, with J.J. Abrams on board to direct Episode VII. The film is said to be released in 2015, but there is also talk of standalone films – focusing on iconic characters like Yoda, Boba Fett, and Han Solo – being released alongside the individual Episodes.

Now, in an interview with IGN, Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) talk about Episode VII and those standalone films.

This is what Kasdan had to say:

They’re going to be fun. J.J. (Abrams)’s a great director for the first sequel. Perfect. We’re very happy to have him. The writers I’ve been working with – Michael Arndt, who’s going to write the sequel, and Simon Kinberg, who has, like me, been sort of consulting — they’re great. I’ve never really collaborated a lot, and I’ve never been a room with a bunch of writers thinking, “Well, what should this thing be?” It’s fun. It’s really fun. And J.J.’s a writer. Yeah, lovely guy. I’d met him but didn’t know him. But now I’m totally enamored by him. He’s really funny and so enthusiastic.

So glad that the two can have chemistry, as it will certainly work out in their favor if they are working on all cylinders.

Kinberg talked about being a huge fan of the franchise and what it was like to write the screenplay for the next Episode:

I honestly try to approach all of these movies — whether it’s a title like X-Men or Sherlock Holmes or Star Wars — as a fan. I try to block out the anxiety I feel if I worry too much about the responsibility, and I just try to focus on the fun of it and the reasons why I grew up reading X-Men comics and watching Star Wars movies and reading Sherlock Holmes stories, that first time I read or watched any of those things and why they were so magical to me. I try to honor that and return to that as I would a fan.

Kinberg also talked about the keeping the material for Episode VII as much of a secret as they can.

As a fan, I wouldn’t want to know too much. I know that’s impossible because it’s not the ’70s or ’80s anymore, but part of what was so exciting about A New Hope for me was I was entering into a universe I didn’t know. Even in Empire, I was surprised by a twist I never would have seen coming. But it’s different nowadays. I understand the excitement, and I’m happy that people are interested, obviously. But I’d rather people have something left to discover when they go in.

It sounds like they aren’t ready to give any details just yet, but it’s still nice of them to offer a new interesting nuggets for their fans, even though we are still a long ways away from getting anything great. IGN has the full interview.